Alert Janeite Paola wrote to tell us that the Harry Potter weblog The Leaky Cauldron has scans of an article in the Tatler in which it is revealed that Friend of Jane J.K. Rowling owns a Jane Austen first edition–but not which one. We are guessing Emma, which Ms. Rowling has often said is her favorite.

Alert Janeite Carmen wrote to share a very interesting link. Pride and Prejudice has been nominated as a “British Icon.” The voting is open, so do your Janeite duty!

JaneFan has resurrected Austentatious, and her first post concerns that one nitpicky thing that drives Janeites crazy the world over…referring to “our” Jane as Jane Austin.

Googling “Jane Austin” for the obvious entertainment value, JaneFan found that there really WAS a 19th century author named Jane Austin. There also is an elaborate fan page for one “Calamity Jane Austin” who apparently wrote some potboilers called The Scarlet Peony, Northanger Abilene, and other interesting titles. (But are they horrid, are you sure they are all horrid?)

Broadwayworld.com has some photos from rehearsals of the upcoming Broadway play I LOVE YOU BECAUSE, a modern take on Pride and Prejudice.

The Guardian reports that Robin Swicord, who adapted Memoirs of a Geisha for the big screen, has written several screenplays that she would like to direct, including one called THE JANE PRIZE.

Also on the books is The Jane Prize, which centres on a family of Jane Austen scholars in New England. That old Hollywood inertia means it may take a while before these projects come to fruition. An adapted screenplay Academy Award nomination, let alone a win, will most likely change all that.

We Googled the film title and found a few more articles in which Ms. Swicord talks about the project. About.com has an interview with Ms. Swicord; it seems like she is still working on the script.

Meanwhile I’m writing something to direct at Sony that’s called ‘The Jane Prize.’ That one’s about a family of Jane Austen scholars. It’s fun. It’s a romantic comedy and I really enjoyed getting to sit down and read all the novels again.

The Hollywood Reporter fills in a few more details:

I was working on another project called ‘The Jane Prize’ (a story about a family of Jane Austen scholars that will mark Swicord’s feature directing debut for Columbia and producers Dan Jinks & Bruce Cohen, the Oscar winning team that produced ‘American Beauty’).

It is entirely possible that this film will never happen, so do not get all worked up about it.

Despite the popular notion that we link to every mention of Jane Austen in the media here at AustenBlog, we only link to mentions that are interesting to Janeites and/or snarkable; the former for obvious reasons, and the latter because we like to believe that Jane would have approved.

This article is a rather weak and tenuous link to Jane Austen, and really does not fit into either category described above, but it is a subject near to the heart of the Editrix and her Inner Copy Editor.

If you want to impress people with your command of English, here’s a useful tip. Learn the difference between “I” and “me”, then use “me” correctly. People will think you got it wrong. They will then discover that you were perfectly right. Your standing will grow.

Here, from The Times of London (3 October 2005) are two instances on the same page. The first is by Ken Russell, the famous film director:

My father was a distant figure who took delight in scaring my mother and I in a weird way.

The second is from a lady novelist:

They sent Stephen and I back to Poland.

How to get it right? Easy. Just blank off the two words before “I”. And then the sentences would read “? took delight in scaring ? I” and “They sent ? I back to Poland.” At which it’s plain that “I” is wrong.

[. . .]

The past is no guide. It is true that Jane Austen has “Mrs Forster and me are such friends.” (Pride and Prejudice) which is wrong. But that is the character, Lydia Bennet, speaking.

In Jane Austen’s work, poor grammar is an indication of poor intelligence (Lydia Bennet, Lucy Steele). The misuse of “I” and “me” is one of the Editrix’s main pet peeves, especially when used by someone who should know better (i.e., professional writers, television news reporters, etc.)